The maintenance button on the groov Manage screen helps keep your groov device in tip-top shape.
You update your cell phone for new features and security patches, so why not your automation system as well? This blog post and video closes out our 12-part groov Manage series on the top-level groov Manage home screen options.
See what's behind the groov Manage: Maintenance button.
While the groov Manage menu does a great job of making it easy to work with all the various aspects of your groov device, clicking into either the backup or restore menu options (behind the Maintenance button) starts to show just how many layers there are to a given groov device. The long list of services and the slider buttons that enable or disable the backup of each is probably the most visual "hit list" you will find breaking down all those services.
No need to dive into each one, as the past 11 blogs have already done that in a way. The key here is that you are in full control of what data ends up in your backup file, and what services are restored from that file (assuming they were backed up in the first place). When it comes to backups, the old saying "one is none, two is one" still holds true. It's worth doing a full backup of your groov device on a regular basis and ensuring you have three copies of the files, both on and off-site—but I digress.
Taking a full backup is logical, but there are also times when you might want to do something like a partial clone of one groov to another (of the same kind, EPIC to EPIC or RIO to RIO). This is one time the switches can come into play.
The last of the three buttons in the Maintenance submenu is the update button. This is where you head when you read about a new firmware version becoming available either on the Opto 22 Forums or in this blog—or perhaps from one of our emails. When you are ready to have your system run the latest features and security updates, you can download the update via your groov Manage portal. And remember, all groov firmware updates are free.
Once you have the file on hand, you can do a full backup of your groov. In the case of groov EPIC, you will need to think about your PAC Control strategy (and any important variables) or CODESYS. If you are running Ignition, you will need to back up your project and unlicense it. It's good practice to also back up your groov View project and Node-RED flows.
Apply the new firmware and after your groov reboots twice, you are ready to restart your process with all the new features and security patches in place.
We have a really handy update checklist you can download, print, or review to help guide you and serve as a great memory aid so no steps get missed.
By the way, here is a power user tip: If you need to restore your groov device to factory defaults, but you want to save some time and have it run the latest firmware version, just do the update process, but be sure to turn off the "Back Up Settings" switch. After the reboot, you will have a better-than-factory-fresh groov. It will be all reset and ready for its first admin account to be made, but updated with all the cool new features and security patches in place.
And so there we have it! All 12 groov Manage top menu options all broken down into 12 blogs and videos. It's been a ton of fun for me to write and share just some of the cool ways that Opto 22 makes the groov product family a whole new experience for industrial automation, and the diverse processes our customers find to use them—ways that we never imagined!
You can get a nice recap of this series by watching the groov Manage Overview video and viewing all 12 button options in action.
Be sure and subscribe to this OptoBlog so you will get an email for any of the next product or firmware update announcements!
Till then,
Cheers mate.
-Ben